Appendix B
Recommendations from Need for a Multipurpose Cadastre (NRC, 1980)
I.
FEDERAL ROLE
Lead Agency: “We recommend that the Office of Management and Budget designate a lead agency for the multipurpose cadastre” (p. 3).
Bureau of Land Management: “We recommend that the Bureau of Land Management proceed with its plans to position the network of Public Land Survey monuments that mark the corners of sections and quarter sections that are located on federal land and to integrate them with the national geodetic control network” (p. 83).
Funding: “We recommend that federal legislation be prepared to authorize and fund a program to support the creation of a multipurpose cadastre in all parts of the Nation” (p. 3).
Cooperative Agreements: “We recommend the establishment of federal cooperative agreements with state and/or local governments to conduct, for example, survey control operations, mapping and remonumentation of property corners under federal or state guidelines and to provide technical assistance and funding for these efforts” (p. 88).
Federal Program Requirements: “We recommend that all federally funded programs that produce components of a multipurpose national cadastre, such as right-of-way surveys or large-scale maps, should be required to adhere to a federal plan that establishes the format for these components or, until such a plan is adopted, to the individual state plan, if any” (p. 89).
Land use restrictions: “We recommend that federal agencies that impose restrictions on the use of lands should be required to file those restrictions with the appropriate state or county recording office” (p. 89).
II.
STATE’S ROLE
State Offices of Land Information: “We recommend that each state authorize an Office of Land Information Systems, through legislation where necessary, to implement the multipurpose cadastre” (pp. 3, 78).
Details
The report recommended (pp. 91-92)
that the Office of Land Information Systems established by each state … be responsible for
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Promoting effective, efficient, and compatible land-information systems among governmental levels, in cooperation with the federal government to ensure compatibility on a national basis;
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Setting standards for state, regional, and local government surveying, mapping, and land-data-collection efforts making use of federal technical studies;
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Providing guidance to those local offices with major responsibilities for land information, namely, recorders, assessors, surveyors, engineers, and planners;
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Serving as the focal point and clearinghouse for state and federal agencies collecting or mapping land information, taking responsibility for the quality of the information that is forwarded;
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Enlisting the resources of other state agencies having important contributions to make to the development of the cadastral system, especially those responsible for land assembly, construction, management of public lands, and efficiency of state administrative services; and
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Recording and transmitting land-related documents and information filed by out-of-state groups such as private, federal, and alien organizations.
State Legislation: “We recommend that states enact legislation to ensure the compatibility of county and local records with the multipurpose cadastre” (p. 92).
III.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ROLE
County Offices of Land Information: “We recommend that each county government (or municipality where appropriate) create an Office of Land Information Systems in coordination with such offices as the recorder of deeds, county surveyor, assessor, planner, and county abstractor, if any” (p. 4).
Details
The functions of the new office would include the following (p. 93):
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Standardization of procedures among all the responsible county and municipal agencies to assure efficient acquisition, storage, maintenance, and retrieval of land information and records within the county;
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Supervising, or at least monitoring, the production and maintenance of a system of county base maps and cadastral overlays that meet state standards for the multipurpose cadastre …; and
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Creation and maintenance of the land-parcel register …, including the recording of land information or restrictions emanating from municipalities or special-purpose districts within the county, the filing of which by those other offices would be mandatory, by state legislation.
Local Government as Primary Access Point: “We recommend that local governments be the primary access point for local land information” (p. 4, 77).
Local Government Data Requirements: “We recommend that local governments maintain land data compatible with a multipurpose cadastre and transmit these data to higher levels of government when needed” (p. 77).
IV.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Technical Studies: “We recommend that technical studies continue to be sponsored by the federal government to identify consistent land information and display standards for use among and within federal agencies and between federal and state governments. These studies should rely on the authority of state governments to adopt the standards and organize the data collection, in cooperation with the federal government to ensure compatibility on a national basis, delegating these functions to local governments where appropriate” (p. 3).
Details
The report stated that the following technical subjects should be addressed (p. 105):
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Integrating mechanisms for cadastral, cartographic, engineering, and geodetic surveying for federal and federally supported programs;
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Integrating mechanisms for storage and retrieval of other land information in data files; [and]
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Procedures for development of local systems, leading to the distribution of prescribed methods and rules for ties to geodetic coordinate systems and adjustment of state plane coordinates for property boundary surveys….
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Map Compatibility: The report also recommended that the technical subject of “compatibility among the large-scale maps to be produced by the individual counties within each state” should be addressed (p. 87).
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Standard Manuals: “We recommend that standard practice manuals describing specific survey methods and rules of adjustment for reliable determination of coordinates for property boundary corners be made available to the local land surveyor and enforced at each government level” (pp. 49-50).
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Vertical Datums: “We recommend that local vertical datums be referenced to the latest National Geodetic Vertical Datum” (p. 51).
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Tidal Benchmarks: “We recommend that tidal benchmarks be established along the east, west, and Gulf coasts at adequate intervals to permit local land surveyors to define riparian boundaries correctly and accurately” (p. 51).
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Base Maps: “We recommend that base maps be grid oriented, tied to the national geodetic control system, and updated regularly” (p. 53).
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Cadastral File: “We recommend that there be created a new cadastral file containing the records of boundary information referenced to the identifier number of each cadastral parcel” (p. 59).
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Field Notes: “We recommend that the cadastral agency adopt minimum standards for field notes and mandatory filling thereof” (p. 72).
IV.
SOCIETAL ISSUES
Boundary Law: “We recommend improvements in survey and boundary law giving greater priority than now exists in the use of coordinates for boundary descriptions” (p. 59).
Legal Issues: “Following the lead of the Modernization of Land Data Systems (MOLDS) II conference (North American Institute for Modernization of Land Data Systems, 1979),1 we recommend that
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Lawyers and surveyors promote state legislation that would make the recording of survey plans for conveyance or subdivision mandatory; all new deeds be based on a reliable survey, similar to those required by the plat laws or section corner filing acts that exist in some states; and the American Congress of Surveying and Mapping and American Society of Civil Engineers propose model standards.
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Title insurance companies agree that all future policies be accompanied by a survey plan; and the American Land Title Association and the American Bar Association propose model standards.
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All title insurance surveys be recorded for the benefits of abutters and future users; and the American Bar Association and American Land Title Association propose model standards.
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All boundary-survey plans show deed references of land owners and adjacent land owners until a parcel identifier system has been adopted” (p. 71).
Centers of Excellence: “We recommend support by the federal government for the establishment of a center or centers of excellence in land-information science, for the purpose of providing a program that develops scholars and professionals. The curriculum should include direct experience with land-data-systems problems” (p. 4).
Professional Organizations: “We recommend that professional organizations such as the American Public Works Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, American Society of Photogrammetry, American Bar Association, and American Right of Way Association should jointly develop practical methods for the creation of a utility cadastre” (p. 74).